House Calls

The Sangh Parivar has adopted a new strategy to increase its audience. Its members visit households to convert people to the 'Hindu way of life'

- Haima Deshpande & Swati Shikha

MUMBAI’S 38-year-old Pallavi Palekar gave up her job after she heard a lecture on the importance of being with the child when they are young. “The maids cannot give the child the culture that is special to every family,” says Palekar. “I had a good job, now I take tuitions at home. I have also enrolled my six-year-old for Raviwar Shala and I can see a change in his behaviour. The naughtiness has reduced and he has started listening to what I say,” she says.

Upper caste homemakers in cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Thane are the new target group of Hindu preachers aligned to various groups under the ambit of their mother organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). While the upper caste men are joining the shakhas of the RSS, the women align themselves to the likes of a Malti Tai and Guru Ma, who preach Hindutva through the experiences of daily living. In the last seven sessions of the Right-aligned groups, gendered talk on the role of the homemaker, particularly Brahmin women, came up as a crucial point of focus. “A woman who goes out to work neglects her home. Today, the Hindu traditions are dying because of such women who do not do pooja or fast on auspicious days,” was the lesson at one of these sessions.

In her commanding voice, Malti Tai, an RSS pracharak (worker), warns: “You have to watch your daughters, keep them under control. Girls are running away, drinking, smoking and going out with boys. You never know what your daughters do outside the house. Be vigilant.” According to her, personal belongings of their daughters must be checked—even if they are grown up and working—and they should get back home at a regular time.